THANJAVUR:A new perspective emerging in India recognises the value of higher education and research which are important for social transformation and economic competitiveness among other things, said K Vijayraghavan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology of the Union government.
Speaking after inaugurating the Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases (CRID) in SASTRA University on Saturday, he said the value of higher education’s importance in energy production, development of green technology and addressing ecological and environmental concerns are also recognised. “To build a foundation for quality science, we need among other things, quality primary education imparted in regional languages, basic research and application. For this, the scientific community needs a sense of purpose,” he said.
Listing the problems faced by India, he pointed out the country’s standing in tackling problems like tuberculosis, malaria, dengue, Japanese encephalitis, poverty, illiteracy, open defecation are poor compared to most of the countries in the world. To change the situation, we need massive social change in which scientists and students play a role, he said.
N Saisubramanian, Assistant Professor in the School of Chemical and Biotechnology, who outlined the work of the CRID, said the centre would adopt novel approach to combat anti-microbial resistance, discovering lead components to curtail multi-drug resistant pathogens and developing rapid diagnostic tools for enteric pathogens.
Merit Scholarships
K Vijayraghavan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, distributed merit scholarships instituted by SASTRA. He gave away a total amount of `87.26 lakh to 863 students based on their performances. R Sethuraman, Vice-Chancellor of the University, S Swaminathan, Dean, Sponsored Research were among those present.